Izocam Highlights the Need of Energy-Efficient Buildings on the World Housing Day

Every year, upon the resolution of United National General Assembly in 1985, first Monday of October is celebrated as the World Housing Day. Aiming to put an emphasis on having better houses, the World Housing Day is an occasion for İzocam to underline the need of Urban Transformation as an opportunity for Turkey.

On the World Housing Day, İzocam General ManagerLevent Gökçe describes the necessity of building energy-efficient buildings that comply with the Regulation on Energy Performance in Buildings while underlining the need of Multi-Comfort Houses offering sustainable building approaches.

As global warming being a major threat, today, energy-efficient buildings are more important than ever for protecting the earth and national economies. İzocam General Manager Levent Gökçe underlines the maximum benefit of correct insulation application, which includes thermal losses and gains as well as the installation, to both household and national economy.

Levent Gökçe emphasizes the need of strict implementation and monitoring of the effective BEP Regulation. “Outputs of “the national contribution (NDC) and planned policies to be implemeted declared in order to achieve the basic objective stated in the Article 2 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) according to the decisions of 1 / CP.19 and 1.CP / 20 by the Republic of Turkey” and the “National Energy Efficiency Action Plan” have been a proof of the need of energy-efficient buildings both for the world and our country. In particular, the NDC declaration calls for construction of the new housing and service buildings in accordance with the Regulation on Energy Performance in Buildings; the need of gradullay decreasing energy consumptions in the buildings by creating “Energy ID Certificate”; and the need for minimizing the energy requirement by generalizing green buildings and almost-zero energy houses in order to achieve the goals in NDC. To that end, innovative and sustainable approaches need to be implemented for insulation and design,” he says.

Thick insulation is the number one factor for sustainable building designs. The average material thickness used in Turkey is 4-5 cm while the same materials have at least 20-30 cm thickness in European countries. Gökçe says, “Although there is no effective inspection with regards to insulation thicknesses, the BEP Regulation emphasizes the importance of insulation in buildings and installations while calling for higher thicknesses. With BEP, I am confident that the energy efficiency levels in the existing buildings in the next decade will increase and make huge contributions to the industry and our country. It is obvious that the BEP is an important step for Turkey. However, it is equally important that the BEP is implemented with all details and inspection mechanisms. The elements to be improved in this regulation must be revised and completed as soon as possible.”

Indicating that the urban transformation is a huge opportunity for energy efficiency, Levent Gökçe underlines the need of accurately taking advantage of the urban transformation in order to create a healthy environment. He adds, “Buildings to be built within the scope of urban transformation will need to have further limited energy consumptions. This will promote the objectives of Turkey stated in the Climate Change National Action Plan and Energy Efficiency Strategy Declaration, similar to the 2020 goals of EU, while spreading innovative applications. According to the Directives of Energy Performance in Buildings published by European Parliament, as of 31 December 2020, all new buildings will be almost-zero energy buildings. This goal needs to be considered in scope of the urban transformation.”

Gökçe also underlines the focus on Multi-Comfort Houses, which contain highly effective new technologies in sustainable building solutions, to minimize the energy need and use. He says, “Derived from almost-zero energy house concept and aiming at bio-climatic design, Multi-Comfort Houses consider ecologic, economic and social factors while offering maximum thermal comfort with high energy savings. Excellent acoustic and visual comfort is paired with quality ambient air, fire protection and safety, and highly flexible design solutions both indoor and outdoor. Multi-Comfort Houses look for at least 90% energy savings and play an active role in reducing the foreign dependency, especially for countries like Turkey, which imports over three-fourth of its energy need.”